Zwiefalter Klosterbräu

Zwiefalter Klosterbräu

Zwiefalter Klosterbräu is a family brewery in Zwiefalten at the foot of the Swabian Alb that looks back on a brewing tradition since 1521, when the Benedictine monks of Zwiefalten Abbey recorded beer brewing in their monastery chronicle. The abbey, founded in 1089, with its famous minster, is regarded as a total work of art of southern German Rococo and lies directly next to the brewery, on the site where the monks chose the confluence of two source rivers of the Zwiefalter Aach. In 1724 construction of the new brewhouse began under Abbot Beda Sommerberg, and with secularisation by the state of Württemberg in 1802 the more than 700-year history of the abbey ended, after which the brewhouse passed into private hands. In 1827 the brewery came into family ownership, and since 1897 it has belonged to the Baader family, which today runs it in the sixth generation and thus continues the monastic art of brewing.

Brewing follows the Purity Law of 1516 using water, barley malt and hops, with raw materials from the immediate region: the quality brewing barley is grown exclusively for the brewery by around 30 farmers on the Swabian Alb and processed into brewing malt by regional maltsters, and for hops the brewery relies on an old aroma variety with which the Benedictines already brewed their beer. The mixture and dosage of hops and brewing malt decide the character of each speciality, and plenty of time to mature complements the traditional brewing craft. With around 70 employees the brewery produces about 15 beer varieties that are mainly distributed regionally, and it is a member of the Brauring as well as the association Die Freien Brauer.

The range includes, among others, the pale full beer 1521, which recalls the founding year and became the brewery's most popular variety, the Kloster-Weizen, the Engele as well as pils, export, dark and festival beers, natural radlers in sweet and sour versions and lemonades such as Sorentina and Edelperle. The advertising slogan «Trinke bis ins Alter Zwiefalter» from the 1960s is still well known to many in the region, and the legendary Zwiefalter Mix-Cola was first bottled after bottling began in Zwiefalten. In the Zwiefalter Bierwelt with its brewery, brewhouse inn with tank beer tapping, farm shop and beer garden, directly opposite the abbey complex, the tradition of handcrafted beer can be experienced, and in 2021 Zwiefalter Klosterbräu celebrated its 500th anniversary.